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tv   Alex Wagner Tonight  MSNBC  March 28, 2024 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT

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needed and they stopped sending stuff there before because of the dangers and risks and that distribution happened later on to make sure all of the people who needed it had it and it was distributed. we were happy to see that. hopefully, we can do more. we would like to see 40 trucks per day get into the north and seven is still a drop in the ocean but one of the bottlenecks there is the number of truck drivers authorized to go into the north is inadequate. they gave 78 names and we have 14 drivers that are actually authorized to go and so that cut in and of itself, creates an impediment. >> there are a lot of dials to turn. so she is just back from gaza from rafah. thank you very much. that is all in and good evening, alex. >> we are sitting in a studio
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surrounded by protesters who are trying to break -- bring attention. thank you, my friend. thank you for joining me. on august 2 of 2007, this was the top story. >> tonight, the tragedy in minnesota and the initial disaster in the search for more victims and for clues on what happened. the children stranded on a school bus when the bridge gave way. >> you are looking live over the scene of the disaster here in the twin cities where the first word that something had gone wrong arrived here at the height of the rush-hour after 6:00 last night and we do now know it was a bridge collapse and a disaster that got the attention and quickly of the entire nation. >> the interstate 35 west
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bridge collapsed in minneapolis claiming 13 lies on wednesday, august 1. on the very next day the president came out and said this. >> a terrible situation in minneapolis. we in the federal government must respond and respond robustly to help the people there, not only recover, but make sure that the lifeline of activity gets rebuilt as quickly as possible. >> we in the federal government must respond to make sure that bridge gets rebuilt as quickly as possible. that was exactly the response would expect from a president after a national tragedy like a bridge collapse. the next day congress voted unanimously, 421 20 to allocate one quarter of $1 billion in federal money to repair that bridge. now, it wasn't like august 2007
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was some kind of golden pre- partisan era and it was a few months before an election and primaries were underway. none of that had any effect on how either party decided to respond./lord -- forward to this week and another bridge collapse in the city of baltimore when a container ship bound for sri lanka crashed into the francis scott key bridge and just like in 2007 the president came up likely to say the federal government should immediately allocate funds to repair the key transit pipeline. and what may normally come next would be a straightforward nonpartisan effort to approve that funding and get to rebuilding it. we don't live in that world anymore. for one of the major political parties, there is no such thing as a tragedy that exists outside of partisanship.
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immediately after the bridge collapse in baltimore, republicans and conservative media started searching for something, anything that they may use to blame the collapse on president biden and the left and first it was immigrants. >> the ship involved in the collapse is 948 feet long and it's a singaporean flat container. you have been talking a lot about the potential for wrongdoing or potential for foul play given the wide open border. >> it didn't take long for that theory to fall apart. it was part of the normal flow of commercial vessels in and out of the country and the crew was based in india and the only immigrants involved in this crisis were the six victims who had been doing maintenance work on the bridge when it collapsed. the people who died. so then they moved on to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and how do they do
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that? baltimore is a majority black city and has a black mayor and the transportation secretary is an openly man. therefore the bridge collapsed under the weight of diversity and i wish i was joking. a utah republican state legislator currently running for governor shared a social media post claiming that one of the commissioners of the port of baltimore, a black woman, knows nothing about ports, but she is a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging consultant and a congressional candidate posted a video of the bridge collapse with a caption dei did this. and then there was the freak out about pete buttigieg, the transportation secretary. >> secretary pete, pete buttigieg. he is young, and he is and why do i mentioned that ? because that is how we got the job. >> no human being on earth
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believes that the former mayor of south bend, pete buttigieg got his job at d.o.t. because it was the most talented person out there. the president appointed him because he checked a very important box. >> the bottom line with pete buttigieg's he is worried about personal pronouns and dei policies. >> this is the mainstream republican party and it's not the french. the french has its own cockamamie theory that the collapse was orchestrated by the deep state, but we won't get into that. the republican party has lost its mind on the baltimore bridge collapse and it's more than just rhetoric. after the bridge collapse, president biden made this promise. >> it is my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge. i do expect congress to support my effort.
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>> because it is president biden, a democrat, and because it is baltimore, a black city run by a black mayor and a state led by a black governor because this involves brown people, republicans seem to have little interest in repairing an essential part of our nation's infrastructure. here is the congressman on the foxbusiness channel today. >> will congress have to pony up more money or is there enough money in the infrastructure package? >> it is great to be with you. it was kind of outrageous immediately for biden to express this tragedy the idea that he will use federal funding to pay for this in its entirety. >> republicans think it's outrageous to use federal money to pay for the baltimore bridge collapse. this congresswoman said the funds come from the infrastructure bill, money that, by the way has already been spent. the congressman said the money should come from money allocated for electric vehicles which, by the way wouldn't be nearly enough and marjorie taylor greene said the
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government should be spending its time investigating whether it was an intentional attack and he said any funding needs to be off spent with new cuts. just to be clear, the price tag on fixing this bridge is estimated to be more than $2 billion and this isn't a gofundme project. this is the kind of thing that needs federal dollars allocated by congress and not just because it is the right thing to do. for republicans who would like to see this is a baltimore problem or an urban problem, it is worth remembering that this bridge affects a lot more than baltimore and more than 52 million tons of foreign cargo was shipped through the port and nearly 140,000 jobs could be impacted by the bridge collapse. this could cost the american economy more than $2 million per day in wages. and the port where this
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collapsed is the second largest u.s. export hub for american coal. bloomberg reports the collapse has already had a significant impact on one whole company which exports this through the port and that is the kind of thing that you may think pennsylvania republicans like this congressman would be concerned about. you might think a party that claims to care deeply about the us economy and american industry would care about the staggering toll of this collapse but it doesn't. republicans are showing the country once again that it isn't really about the economy or american jobs and even fixing what is broken but about weapon icing tragedy and stoking culture wars and above all sticking it to joe biden. and the baltimore mayor spoke with my colleague yesterday and he was clear about what he believes lies at the heart of the republican resistance to
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doing what needs to be done here. >> we do know what they want to say but they don't have the courage to say that word and the fact that i don't believe in their untruthful and wrong ideology and i am proud of my heritage and who i am and where i come from scares them. >> joining me now is the civil rights attorney and a writer for slate and the former missouri senator claire mccaskill. charles, i have a hard time looking at what happened in 2007 when the minnesota bridge collapsed and not comparing that to the year 2024 when this bridge collapsed in baltimore. do you see a parallel here and what are the different reactions? >> of course. understand the continuum of how we got here. we have slowly but surely allowed these false equivalencies to come into our dialogue and conversation such that go woke or go broke in the culture wars in all of these things have been a steady push back and gotten us to this place because we have allowed
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it and we have not called it out and in the interest of being fair and in the interest of including all voices, the reality is there are some voices at this table who are speaking who don't deserve to be heard because what they are talking about isn't ideology but what they are talking about is something that denigrates people's humanity and keeps the two-tiered system of what america is in place and that structure undamaged and that is why we got to this place where somebody is saying we need to help these people and you have people more concerned with profiting about going against joe biden. >> and owning the libs talking about it's an issue of dei. >> claire, does it surprise you when it shows what happens to the republican party? if republicans needed anymore reminder, it's not just about doing the right thing or
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baltimore but the essential part of the american economy and american energy that they are obsessed with, coal and they still can't bring themselves to understand why funding this is important. >> it is a knee-jerk reaction with them. if it is a blue state or a blue city or a diverse community or if joe biden says it, it is all bad. now. this will get interesting. let me say these words. larry hogan. for the republicans to take the senate, larry hogan is very important in that drive they have and they see larry hogan as an essential ace in the hole in terms of taking control of the senate. larry hogan was the governor of maryland a few months ago and he is running for the senate as a republican. how will he win if the republicans are standing unified against helping the people of baltimore and this incredibly important port for
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america's economy. i want to watch the republicans in the senate because i guarantee they are nervous about what this will do to his chances to get elected. >> can i follow-up on that and i understand it is a matter of strategy but house republicans who are the first line of action on this don't seem to care about grievance or rage and it takes mitch mcconnell the say in the best interest of our party which is to say taking the senate in 2024 we have to do this, but does this work anymore, reason? >> who controls the senate is who controls who goes on the bench and you would think a heart-to-heart discussion with some of the crazies in the house, i think they could get enough votes and i think there will be the crazy caucus, but
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if you combine them from districts that biden want along with democratic people in congress in the house, i think you could get enough votes to get emergency appropriations through. remember. if you are against that today, then what happens to your state when your farmers suffer a drought, or what happens when there is a horrific tornado? everybody has the potential of having an emergency disaster in their state and if we go down that road, they are playing with an issue that can go back and bite them in the you know what hard. >> you get a sense of this that pennsylvania coal is going to baltimore and if you don't fix this you don't get that coal out and there are pennsylvania republicans that say should we really fund this and can't you just use funding for ev's and it gets to this narrative where republicans seem blind to the
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fact we live in an interconnected country and like we are a union as much as they would like to believe otherwise. no man is a state unto itself. >> you are right and a caveat and significant is we have been in a space where facts no longer matter or not as much so when you talk about the control of information or talk about the wide and vast amount of misinformation that is poisoning our dialogue, it is easier for republicans to make this clearer in terms of their perspective if you call that than what is going on. there are a lot of voters not necessarily processing this in the ways you just talked about because they have monetized in terms of fundraising and votes and owning the libs and they are going against joe biden and democrats with everything they have. >> you see a leading light of the democratic party and a black governor of maryland and they see an enemy and not just
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in a partisan sense but a social sense. >> absolutely in a social sense. this is the conversation that has to be had. i am not here to suggest that every republican is racist or has racist tendencies. but i am here to say there is more of that than we give credit for and we haven't called out in the ways we need to which is a big part of how we got here. >> claire, how does the biden administration play this? i think the racist underpinnings of this are pretty obvious and the craven part of it is on the surface and yet for it to get fixed and the biden administration to get the federal funding they have to get republicans to play ball here so how much can you count on what they are doing any moment of political strategy? >> i think it will happen. i think those who appropriate will take the reins here and both republican and democratic appropriators no emergency
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funding. i remember when the bridge collapsed in minnesota and how quickly removed. i remember it was anything but controversial and it was like of course we will do this in the same thing with the hurricanes. and katrina. and these were things that we did. i think there are enough people in congress that this funding will get through. i am not saying it will be quick or easy. but i do think right now the house is barely holding onto a majority and they have a one- vote majority and that's not a position of power or strength with emergency funding to one of the most important export ports in the u.s. i think cooler heads will prevail. >> i am reminded of tommy tepper bill holding up the military appointments to make a stand on abortion, and used 12
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times total during a seven month protest when he held the military hostage. they will stop at nothing to further partisan gains for talking points they can use back home and they will hold the military hostage. >> it has become so polarized that it is embarrassing and we have to be honest about that as an electorate and when you talk about every member up for reelection that needs to be in the forefront of the voters minds because this isn't sustainable. as much as people want to talk about the preservation of democracy, beyond who is in the white house, this can continue and it needs to be addressed. >> we can have an economy if we can't ship goods in and out of the country. thank you so much for your time and we appreciate that. >> we do have a lot to get to and donald trump is suddenly worth a whole lot of money on paper. can he spend it before the bubble burst? plus president biden brings in
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tonight i can offer you a tale of two campaigns. on one side president biden who tonight a few feet from this very studio is hosting a big deal fundraiser with former presidents barack obama and bill clinton. earlier today they recorded in episode of smart lists the podcast hosted by sean hayes, will arnett and what appears to be jason bateman. biden's event this evening is slated to raise more than $25 million and his campaign characterizes that is the most successful political fundraiser in american history adding to what is already a pretty colossal warchest. meanwhile on the other side the trump campaign spends the night
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comparing stats to biden and donors are trying to step on his night by saying a fundraiser they are holding next month will do better. joining me now is the staff writer at the atlantic. we don't have to talk about jason bateman and we will get to trump's money in a moment and i want to get to your view on the moment the democratic party is an and i know there are protesters protesting the biden's policy in gaza and there have been several interruptions us far but $25 million and three presidents on stage in a number or a lot of star power and does this feel like an inflection point for what has been a story for biden and his approval numbers and polling headed into an election? >> i certainly wouldn't understate the importance of $25 million or biden's fundraising advantage and they could take some of that and by
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him a jacket or something, jason bateman. ultimately, there fundraising is important and it helps it immensely and i do think the optics here are not great for democrats. i think it feeds and to the blue state entertainment based elite and feeds into a yesterday vibe that i think has dogged biden a bit because of his age and also clinton and obama are yesterday presidents and that is customary to have elder states people campaign for the person running but you can't go too far with that especially when you have stephen colbert and that won't get you many swing voters in the midwest. the other thing and you mentioned the protests, this is something biden and a lot of democrats get everywhere and it creates a sense of chaos especially when you have trump disingenuously are not trying
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to grandstand on law and order and honoring a police officer and we will see what trump raises but as far as the democrats fixing their problem to reach across their boundary at this point this could be problematic and i wouldn't see it as a turning point. >> fair enough. but i do wonder and setting aside, i would be hesitant to suggest that the biden campaign thought this would win any swing votes and to me it seems like an event to inject some enthusiasm into a democratic party especially young democrats who have thus far been on excited about the prospect and offer. and bill clinton in his own category but bringing barack obama back and reminding the country of those years and the president that becomes even
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more likable in the years after they leave the presidency and do you think -- it sounds like you think it may not be an effective tool to change the amount or increase the amount of enthusiasm among the electorate? >> i think ultimately democrats look like a party of grown-ups which isn't a bad thing given how nervous they are and the contrast of that trump provided. i think that is important that ultimately this is a big-money event and i think if you are serious about this, the biden ministration is a serious administration and i think it has some solid accomplishments that they need to sell and sell hard and i think having the calvary out in full force tonight and going forward is extremely important but, ultimately the use and swing vote is not obviously centered in radio city music hall. i think on the heels of the state of the union and the recent polling uptick we have seen and some of the other news, it is a good thing and it
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keeps going and keep the momentum going that the biden campaign has seen in recent weeks. >> there is a new ad comparing his swing visits to trump's golf swing and maybe we can play a little bit. >> with the president visiting eight swing states in 18 days biden has crisscrossed across the country. visiting the southwest and his came -- campaign stops have focused on many things including the chips act and investments. ♪ >> i feel this is an interesting table flipped because for so long biden in the basement and he is weekend elderly. and maybe put the narrative on
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trump that he is an old retiree in florida golfing a lot and do you think it works? >> they have been effective and a credit to the music as i find myself bobbing my head along. they are effective in circulating and keeping with that and the $60 bible thing and basically his daily stuff that he provides not to mention what congress is doing. i think that has been good and in some ways the campaign has found a voice and vigor in both the candidate himself and certainly the advertisement maker. >> i have to say that the republicans top state-level fundraising committee is privately warning against biden bashing because it doesn't hurt down ballot candidates as much as trump bashing has the rest of the republican party. what you make of that? >> a little late to get that memo and stop biden bashing by the way. i think biden was an imperfect
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target and he is a known and likable entity and it could drive his negatives down, but ultimately it won't convince joe biden that he is a monster that some people are convinced he is. it is an odd thing and i do think it is true that down ballot he doesn't have the reach that trump certainly does the democratic party. so it does seem like a weird and herky-jerky pivot in a very opportune time. >> the republicans in opportune i can't imagine. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> the supreme court justice clarence thomas's pick to fill one of his coveted clerkships is raising eyebrows and we will get into that controversy but his wealth on paper skyrocketed this week and where the money comes from and whether or not it will last and whether he can
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as president biden's reelection campaign projects a windfall at his fundraiser tonight, donald trump's personal net worth has ballooned over this past week
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on paper courtesy of his social media company, trump media and technology group which went public on monday and on its first day of trading they rocketed to an $8 billion valuation making it worth more than the new york times. he himself owns 60% of that company and at this point you would find yourself wondering how did we get here. and after all trump media and technology group's maine product , truth social has just 2% of the monthly active users of twitter cup interest and an even tinier fraction of the monthly users of meta. also truth social lost almost $50 million against $3 million revenue. so how is he able to take it from losing tens of millions of dollars last year to being worth 8 billion this year? how long can that last before
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the bubble bursts? can he use any of this money to pay off the $175 million bond he owns or owes in his fraud case next week? joining me now is the business reporter from the new york times ridding -- writing extensively so the person to ask on this. thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. you know the nature of this company better than most and can you explain to people who don't know, where is the money coming from and who is investing in this company? >> most of these are individual shareholders and there are 400,000 or so when the merger took place and the lions share were trump supporters. and they are not necessarily medical porters -- supporters but basically regular people who are true believers and not only in trump but in truth
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social. i talked to a number of them over the past few years and it has almost become a religious type of thing where they want this company to survive getting on the ground floor. >> do you think they have any sort of comprehension of the potential financial peril that could be involved? i have noted in the reporting in the times that some of the big investors have shorted which have bedded against the media shares on the assumption they can't continue trading on this insane valuation and trump media according to an outside financial data company is now the most shorted company to merge with the >> but one of the most shorted companies in the united states which seems like show we call it a big red flag. >> it is. if you thought about his core base of shareholders which would be his core base of
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support, they are fully cognizant that they could lose their money and he is quoting one of those stories that he is willing to lose that money on the principle of trying to make this company grow and you bring this up and one thing to understand that the merger part of this was the shell company out there for three years before it closed and a lot of them were in the red for the longest time because back when this deal dash -- when it was announced for the past few years some of them are in the black and some are in the red but it's almost a matter of principle for them and obviously i don't think anybody wants to lose all their money. but they do see it is something bigger than just an investment. >> how much of this can he tap into? he canceled his shares for six months and he could ask the board permission to do so, but that would be a can to saying
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-- a real loss of confidence. >> i don't think that will happen. there is a reason these restrictions are in place normally and it is an uncommon and we don't want the majority of shareholders dumping their stock and it's not a good sign. i can tell you that the investors we talked to don't think trump will do that and they don't want trump to do that and the more likely scenario is they could ease this restriction that he can't borrow against the stock, i.e. use it against the loan as collateral or for a bond he may need to pay off with a civil penalty. i think it's a more like the scenario that could happen and we have not seen it yet but it's only the first week of existence and it's a very trump firmly -- friendly board but the board members, five of them are clear loyalists and you have don junior and nunez and
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three former trump administration people on. >> do you feel like the value of the stock will track his candidacy? as the polling goes up and down, do you think it could be reflected in the stock price? >> i think it is a barometer or proxy for his fortunes. again the company before that it merged with the stock really took off early this year when rhonda santos -- governor desantis dropped from the primary and it was up 40% and i think there is a good chance it will continue roughly around these levels as long as it appears to be close which every indication it will be but i don't really see an event taking place that will cause the stock to crater but when you have a stock that is so
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overvalued, any unforeseen event can cause that and we may not know what it is at this time. >> if we could say anything about donald trump, it is about a volatile candidacy and a volatile stock. it is great to have you on the program and thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> still ahead. you have turn of -- heard of the term nepo baby. we will give you the latest scandal surrounding justice thomas. that is next. p to 30% off thoughtful piecesdee to brighten your home. save on lighting, furniture, gifts and more. when you need 'just the thing' to make your space feel like new...
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it's got to be tide. having a billionaire benefactor comes with excellent perks as might be expected. justice thomas has received multiple luxury trips and sweet real estate deals courtesy of his conservative patron, mega donor harlan crow. justice thomas is quite generous himself and his newest law clerk crystal clanton is not just his employee but practically his family. the new york times reports that he and his wife took her in under their own roof when she was fired from turning point usa after reportedly sending racist text messages and the couple began calling her their nearly adopted daughter.
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she was so close to the thomases that she is prominently featured in some of the thomas's recent christmas newsletters right alongside their dogs. in addition to providing housing she worked for mrs. thomas at her consulting firm and justice thomas's use his contacts to help her land her clerkship in his own office. there is nothing illegal about keeping things close. but this is the supreme court and it is an institution that is encouraged by the nonbinding federal code of conduct to avoid unnecessary appointments, nepotism and favoritism and it is an institution that has a 60% disapproval rating right now and also an institution that is currently facing a giant credibility problem amid a flood of ethics scandals centering on justice clarence thomas. so you may expect, i don't
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know, a bit more self-awareness and the sort of self-awareness the court exhibited when justice kagan hired merrick garland's daughter to be her clerk before her father was ahead of the justice department and the spring court then announced garland's daughter wouldn't serve in that position as elena kagan's clerk while her father remained attorney general and this i contrast justice thomas has insisted on hiring his near daughter, the one on his christmas cards and, man, that sounds like a very nice thing for him to do for her and the new york times gives us some idea of what her future holds and at least eight teen of her former clerks have served as state, federal or military judges, nearly 3/4 of them pointed by mr. trump to federal courts where they have ruled on issues like voting rights and access to the abortion pill. many of thomases clerks have gone on to do the bidding of justice thomas and that seems like not that much of a
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coincidence. >> law clerks are law clerks. they are wonderful to have around in my view is it's one of the best parts of the job and they have energetic people who are like family and i select them and they are mine and they are my kids. they know how i think. >> i will talk about the significant contributions to nepotism in the american judiciary with marc joseph stern next. detect this: living with hiv, craig learned he can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why he switched to dovato.
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don't settle. you want fast. get fast. you want reliable. get reliable. you want powerful. get powerful. get real deal speed, reliability and power with xfinity. she shoots from here? that's kinda my thing. four years before he was appointed to the highest court in the land, clarence thomas said this, there's nothing you can do to get past black skin. i don't care how educated you are, how good you are at what you do, you will never have the same contacts or opportunities, you will never be seen as equal to whites. despite that perspective, clarence thomas has dedicated his time on the bench to undoing landmark civil rights
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achievements for black americans. in 1995, he became the first supreme court justice to openly criticize around the board of education which of course outlawed segregation, in 2013 he voted to got the voting rights act. in 2023, he joined a decision to strike down race-based affirmative action. he's also used his position to fill the judiciary with scores of his former clerks, most of whom are white and all of whom he says, share his views. >> i'm not going to hire clerks who have profound disagreements with me. that's a waste of my time. and someone said that's like trying to train a pig. it's wasting your time and aggravates the pig. >> this week, we have news that thomas has decided to hire as his new clerk, a woman who is publicly accused of sending racist text messages like the one that reads, i hate black people in capital letters. she's also someone justice thomas has described as nearly
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an adopted daughter. joining me now is mark joseph stern, senior writer for slate magazine. i don't know where to begin with the racist text messages or the nepotism. how unusual is it to hire a supreme court law clerk who once lived with you? >> it's extraordinarily unusual. essentially, unheard of since the olden days, when the justices lived at boarding houses in 1800s washington. this is new territory, and i think it really shows just how enmeshed clarence thomas and ginni thomas are with their professional network, crystal client and came to the thomases as an assistant to ginni thomas after she was pushed out of turning point usa for being too racist, and then grew into not only a confidant to jenny but also a friend and nearly
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adopted daughter to clarence, now he's elevating her to a clerkship which positions her well for a first of $500,000 bonus if she's entering private practice and 10 years down the line a judgeship under a future republican president. so the stakes are high and because of that, justices usually go out of their way to hire based on merit, to ensure they are not just picking their friends and family. obviously clarence thomas does things different way, clinton may be the most extreme version of that but she's not the only one. >> in the immediate, it doesn't seem like a good idea to have a law clerk at the supreme court who has texted i hate black people just for what it does to the court itself which is suffering from a major pr cry six -- pr crisis at best but people who write text messages saying i hate black people
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should not be in the pipeline, and thomas, really, has seemed to have profoundly efficient, he's built an efficient pipeline and his clerks really have gone on in large number, to become judges, to be an essential part of the american justice system. can you talk more about his record on that? >> so clarence thomas's clerkships are unique in that they function as an indoctrination boot camp. he doesn't hide this, he goes out of his way to select ? you already agree with him. he actually has direct lines to conservative professors at law schools like notre dame who pick the most ideologically extreme and pure students, and put them in the pipeline up to a future clerkship, once they are there, with clarence thomas, he instills them on this extreme far right conservative philosophy, send them on their way. many do take these payouts in private practice, the bonus for supreme court clerk is about
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half $1 million but then they find their way back into public service, quite frequently in the form of a judgeship. trump and his advisors went back, time and again to clarence thomas is for -- former clerks to get justices and they have proved to be some of the most extreme on the bench. judges like allison jones rushing who just today upheld an extreme racial gerrymander in the state of north carolina. these judges have a mission that clarence thomas helps them to refine and once they are out in the world, they work very hard and consistently to achieve those goals and circle back around every year for a meeting with clarence thomas and his clerks family, where they all congratulate each other on all they have done to further the cause. >> it's south carolina where the extreme gerrymandering is happening, just to be clear, right? it's not just judgeships, john eastman, is a former clarence
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thomas law clerk, is that right? >> yes, he's currently being disbarred from california because of his participation in trying to overturn the election. one of the more extreme examples but a good one. the other one is john you who wrote the torture memos under john ingram. not all of these individuals go directly into the judiciary's, either way, they are preaching from the gospel that clarence thomas helped to write, and i'm sure that crystal clanton will be set along the same path when she graduates from this boot camp. >> this is clarence thomas's army. mark joseph stern, it's always great to talk to you. that's our show for this evening, now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell, good evening and welcome back, lawrence. >> mike manley is over there, right over there, and he's got the three presidents, and

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